why, it's a box of hose!

Adorned with bobby pins de-luxe. And not a hole in the bunch. Lucky me.

Thanks to my favorite Texan.

PS Britt, they fit, don't worry.

secret move #12

Don't compare your gingerbread house to others'.

Some gingerbread schoolhouses radiate awesomeness.

Some gingerbread houses are very very very plain.

And some gingerbread houses have dormer windows, pink shutters and unicorns!

And some gingerbread houses are a little crooked but still sweet.
(Plus maybe you can shoot lazers with your eyes.)

"Our kids are going to love making gingerbread houses with grandma."
(The awesome schoolhouse is hers.)

secret move #11 - avoid the stairs in gold ruffly shoes

Perhaps I had a premonition.I wore my boots to the car.

I should have worn them into the party.

Because my gold ruffly heels are kind of bendy and their bendiness caused me to fall down three stairs and nearly break my cuckoo ceramic Santa Claus teapot after the white elephant gift exchange.

when the kids are all grown we will still have this blue and gold print

I sorted our laundry into the three regular piles:
Whites
Blacks
Blue&Yellows

fo real friday

The Stricklan family

Keeping it really real since 1929

(That's my dad's dad on the right wearing the funny sweater and cap...if you know my dad this might strike you as mildly uncanny)

while andy was staying with us he observed that i bake a lot

Maybe the words he used were "every day," but our family has been known to exaggerate.


Bonus information: my favorite part of the recipe I just used was to add one-forth of a teaspoon of hot water to the dough just before mixing in the chocochips. And yes, I did it.

3 is my lucky number?

If you are unlucky enough to have seen that Freddy Kruger movie where the kids aren't supposed to fall asleep (or they'll die!) or that scary Nicole Kidman movie where she's a psychologist and people are all getting infected by aliens but it only activates with the initiation of the REM cycle and her son is somehow immune but her boyfriend's not (how complex!), then, well. I'm sorry.

I kind of feel like I belong in a (very boring version) of one of those movies today, after a long night of staring at the ceiling and then coming home from work to a cozily dim apartment (hello, basement) and a happily rumpled bed--

After my 7-mile commute* took me twenty minutes (in rural Utah) because of yet another traffic accident (this week we're three for three days),

And after noticing that yet another pair of my hose* had irreparable holes in it (this would be pair #3 on that front as well).

Don't fall asleep. Don't fall asleep. Because that would make it 3 naps for three days this week. (And would probably lead to a third night of non-sleep.)

Come on, stay awake, Mellie!

This isn't working.

*never called it that before

such moderate heights

"To see what I could see." by Melissa P.I climbed up on top of the roof because I like to climb.

I saw the Bitteroot mountains to the west.

The Tetons were NOT visible to the east.

But I did notice some gentlemen hanging Christmas lights.

indoor illumination

Co-operationMakes it happen.

Co-operation.

Working together!

Ew. And then the engaged ones had to spoil it by flirting.
(Dec. 26 - North Carolina. I'm so excited!)

it's all fun and games and intellectual improvement

my grandma stricklan

Wished me a Happy Thanksgiving from some old photos. She wouldn't believe the technology that transfered her image from a warm summer day in Darlington with her little baby to a computer on a wintry Thanksgiving sixty years later.

doing laundry on wednesday -or- this is a very good sign

It means the weekend has come, despite what the calendar says.HoOoOoOray for Wednesday laundry!

plate face

When I put away the dishes this morning I had another reaffirmation (is that redundant?) that it is good to buy dishware at the thrift store.
But one work day, one nap, and one set of crazy nap-head bangs later I was still sad. This is my sad face:

write him a letter if you want to - here's the address

Another week down. I somehow dropped the bucket on the end of Drew PS's mission (oOops), but I still say I've continually been writing to missionaries for four years and counting. Once a week to Jesse, Brittany, Andy and Timb.
What dedication.
What love.
What boring things I must have said for 208 weeks.

why, no, you don't have to be famous or even very cool

to have your face on a t-shirt